My Last Breath
by twice
Summary: After Harry’s 17th birthday he fights Voldemort and loses. The Order of the Phoenix and everyone else who opposes Voldemort are either killed or go into hiding. Four years later a new Order is being formed and warriors are being trained to take down the D
1. Haunted

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling.

Chapter One - Haunted

Harry Potter was not supposed to die. The whole of the wizarding world had been in shock when they found that Lord Voldemort had taken over all of England. And yet no one seemed able to stop him now that their savior was dead.

Harry had been seventeen when he fought Voldemort and lost. Four years passed and still the Dark Lord lived on and grew stronger. His army was the largest in the world and no one dared oppose him - or so he thought.

Deep underground lived a group of radicals who called themselves, simply, "The Order." The group had formed a year ago and their leader decided that now was the time to train and recruit.

This day was special for the Order as their leader would be addressing them with an important announcement.

The meeting room was made entirely of stone and lit only by candles. There were hundreds of wooden benches which faced a small wooden stage, on which stood a podium.

The room quickly filled with all the members of the Order. Permeating through the air was the sound of hundreds of murmuring voices and the smell of dirt and an underground river.

A young woman of about twenty-one with curly brown hair and intelligent brown eyes walked up to the podium. The room instantly quieted and the woman began to speak.

"Good evening everyone. For those of you who don't yet know who I am, my name is Hermione Granger." She waited for the shocked whispers to die down before continuing. "Yes, I was best friends with our fallen hero, Harry Potter. I was with him the day he was murdered by Voldemort. Not only was my best friend killed but the creature called the Dark Lord murdered my parents and my lover, Ronald Weasley." She paused as she fought for control over her emotions. It had been four years but for her the pain was still fresh and raw. Talking about it was hard but necessary.

"Voldemort has taken our loved ones from us. He has taken our beloved country away from us. He even terrorizes the Muggles and killed their royalty. He has built an enormous army of not only wizards and witches but of magical creatures - werewolves, dragons, giants, dementors and many other creatures too numerous to name them all. He is planning on world domination and we must stop him. But we cannot fight alone - nor can we go up against his armies. No, our battle will be quiet and subtle until the end. It will be dangerous and it will be hard but if we all stand together we will win this war!" she shouted the last line and everyone in the room shot to their feet and sang out a war cry.

Eventually the noise faded and Hermione continued. "Most of you know all that already and it's not why I've called you here. I have a few announcements to make that I believe will help our cause. First of all our biggest focus right now is on recruitment. I am sending two people to every country in the world and you are to recruit as many magical creatures as you can. These 386 people will be specially trained in recruitment. We will give them two years. After those two years are up we will move on to the next stage of our plan which will be revealed at the end of those two years. Our second focus is on finding magical children and bringing them here for training. Right now we have 800 people living in this underground city and not one is under eighteen. I know that it is hard to make relationships during a time of war but as of this day forward we have enacted a law that every single adult between the ages of eighteen and fifty must be married within the next year. This may seem horrible but we need children to continue on to the next generation! And who better to raise them than our community? Not only must we have our own children but we are going to go to the world above and find children and bring them here. Steal them if you must - we need as many people as we can get! Must I remind you that Voldemort's army numbers in the tens of thousands and we have only 800? It is time to put our freedom aside and do what must be done. Are you with me?"

The crowd cheered and Hermione ended the meeting.

"That was quite a speech," a red-haired young woman told Hermione as she walked toward her. Hermione smiled sadly. "I hate talking about the past."

Ginny sighed. "You know you have to let him go. I let Harry, Ron and dad go a few years ago. You can't keep holding on to them. The pain will only worsen with time and I hate to see you so unhappy."

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "But I feel as though if I were to let go I would be betraying him."

Ginny put her arm around her friend's shoulders. "Hermione, you know that Ron would want you to be happy. So would Harry. That's what I finally accepted. You know that if Ron and Harry could see us right now they would be telling you to move on."

Hermione opened the door to her apartment. Ginny followed her inside.

Hermione's apartment had been made by her, mostly through transfiguration. The stone walls were covered with red and gold Gryffindor pendants. The floors were a red carpet. There was a red velvet couch with gold pillows and a matching armchair to the east side of living room as well as two bookshelves filled with books. On the west side was a mini kitchen with black appliances. To the south of the room was the front door as well as a mahogany writing desk. To the north of the room were two doors. One led to the bathroom, decorated entirely in gold and the other led to the bedroom. The bedroom had a huge four-poster canopy bed, mahogany wood with red and gold bedding and a gold canopy. Also in the room were a matching vanity table, mirror and wardrobe.

Hermione sat down on her couch and watched Ginny sit in the armchair across from her. "What people are you sending to recruit in England?"

Hermione's expression changed to one of business now that they had come to a topic she wasn't trying to avoid. "Myself and Richard Grey."

Ginny nodded. Hermione had already informed the 386 people of who they were and where they were going. She had also told them that there would always be a man and a woman. The women would recruit men and the men would recruit women. Ginny had been assigned to go to France with Antonio Lopez.

Hermione folded her hands and leaned back. "The recruiting training starts tomorrow and it will be hard. We only have two weeks to train 385 people and only 200 instructors, including myself. Even you must be trained."

"Why?" Ginny asked curiously. She had learned the same things Hermione had in school so she wasn't sure why she had to take extra training when Hermione did not.

"Because the training we will be giving has to do with subtlety and safety. Also we will be giving a crash course on _Legilimency_ and _Occlumency_ so you can block your minds and yet read others to know whom you should approach and whom you should stay away from. Of course we will be touching on invisibility spells and notice-me-not spells. Thankfully we retrieved a very large shipment of invisibility cloaks which we will be handing out to half of the recruiters, meaning one person in each group will receive one. We will also give you the spell to _Apparate_ here in an emergency and how to, with absolute certainty, keep someone from following you. There are a few other things you will be taught as well - so you see why you must take these courses?"

Ginny, her eyes wide, nodded. Hermione took out her wand and flicked it at the kitchen. A silver tray with settings for tea for two floated into the living room and landed on the coffee table in front of them.

Hermione fixed Ginny a cup of tea and then fixed one for herself. She flicked her wand again and a Victrola began to play a beautiful French Opera.

The two women sipped their tea and listened to the music but did not speak for a very long time.

A man dressed completely in black knelt in front of a thin, pale man with red glaring eyes and a hideous expression. The Dark Lord stared at his most faithful servant. "Rise, Severus."

Severus stood and met his master's gaze. "You have summoned me, my lord?"

Voldemort sat on his black throne and motioned that Severus should sit at his feet. Severus did so without hesitation. "I did summon you. I have a mission for you. Are you interested in accepting it?"

Severus was not surprised by his master's request. Voldemort, ever since coming into power, had been less demanding of his most faithful servants - though he was still cruel to anyone he considered beneath his Death Eater's rank and to anyone who disobeyed him.

"I am master," Severus replied solemnly.

Voldemort almost smiled. "I am glad that you are so eager to serve me. You know of this group that calls themselves the Order?"

Severus nodded. "I do master."

"Good. You are to infiltrate their ranks and find out who their leader is. When you do you will bring him to me. Of course while you're there you will report any move they make whenever you can. I will expect reports every week. Do you understand, Severus?"

Severus nodded once again. "I do, master and I am ready and willing to do what you ask of me."

Voldemort did smile this time but it was not a nice smile. In fact it would make anyone but a Death Eater cringe in fright and disgust. Severus, however, had total control over his emotions - or so he thought.

"Then go my pet and do not fail me."

A/N: Hope you guys liked my first chapter. Can anyone guess where the last line came from? HINT - it's from a movie (and no, not an HP movie). Let me know what you think of my story so far by reading and reviewing!

Special Thanks to my Beta Reader: Danielle


	2. Everybody's Fool

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That is owned by J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Two - Everybody's Fool

Hermione slammed her office door in frustration. The day's training had not started off well. First of all only sixty percent of those chosen had actually shown up. Hermione had sent a massive Howler to all those who had not come. It reminded them of how important this training was and that if they missed tomorrow's training they would be removed from the chosen and she would find someone else to take their place.

Hermione stopped dead when she saw that someone was sitting in front of her desk. The chair they were in had a high back so she couldn't see anything but one long, slender arm resting on the armrest.

Hermione walked around to sit at her desk and when she looked up at her guest she screamed. The door to her office was thrown open and her security guards came running in. The four guards as well as Hermione took out their wands and pointed them at the intruder.

"How did you get here?" Hermione demanded furiously.

Severus folded his hands calmly. "I was recruited."

Hermione had sent out two recruiters who had already been trained several months ago to start finding people to join their cause. But for them to chose this man - she highly doubted it.

"I don't think so. You are a well known Death Eater and you murdered Dumbledore. None of my people would dare to even speak to you let alone bring you here. Did you find one of them and torture them? Is that how you got in here?" Hermione questioned as she began to fumble in her desk drawer for a bottle of _Veritaserum_.

Severus smiled grimly. "There's no need for that. All you need to do is bring in your female recruiter - I believe her name was Amanda Evans - and she can prove to you that she did indeed recruit me."

Hermione had Amanda brought in but she also put a few drops of the serum into a cup of tea and handed it to Severus. "Drink this while I ask Amanda a few questions."

Severus drank the tea and watched the proceedings with amusement.

"Did you recruit Severus Snape?" Hermione asked the young woman. Amanda nodded. "I did, Miss Granger. I know who he is but he seemed so open to the idea - I read his thoughts and everything."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Ah hah! Now I know you're up to something Snape. There is no way someone like Amanda, who just learned _Occlumency_, could possibly read your mind when you are a master of both _Occlumens_ and _Legilimens_. You must be here to spy!"

Severus didn't reply. His eyes were slightly glazed as the serum had taken affect.

"We will find out once and for all then!" Hermione exclaimed. "Severus, are you here to spy on the Order?"

"No."

"Did you trick Amanda into bringing you here?"

"No."

"Are you here to kill us?"

"No."

"Do you truly want to join the Order?"

"Yes."

"Did you murder Dumbledore?"

"Yes."

"Are you sorry about it?"

"Yes."

Hermione pursed her lips and stared at him. He had to be telling the truth, didn't he? He had taken the serum after all and one could not lie with the serum in their system.

After a few moments of observation Hermione finally sighed. "All right, you must be telling the truth. You may join the Order. In fact, I have an assignment for you. Are you ready?"

Severus nodded. "Always."

"Okay then. You are to go to the surface, and bring back as many children as you can. I don't care how you get them as long as you don't kill anyone. Understood?"

Severus nodded again. "I understand. When do you want me to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning," Hermione said and then stood. She motioned for everyone to leave, except Severus. She knew the serum would wear off soon, and she wanted to ask a few more questions before that happened. Once the room was empty, save for her and Severus, she sat down and met his gaze.

"Did you kill Harry Potter?"

"No."

"Did you kill Ronald Weasley?"

"No."

"Did you kill Arthur Weasley?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I was under the Dark Lord's orders."

"Until now, have you truly been faithful to Voldemort?"

"Yes."

"So you were always on his side, even while you were part of the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Yes."

"And you were ordered to kill Dumbledore?"

"No. Draco was ordered to do that but could not perform his task so I did it for him."

"Where is Draco?"

"With the Dark Lord. He is a high ranking Death Eater now."

"And Lucius?"

"The same."

Hermione saw that she had only two or three more questions before the serum would be gone so she chose carefully.

"Did the Dark Lord order you to infiltrate the Order?"

"No."

"How, then, did you know of us?"

"You are talked about in certain circles. I listened."

The serum faded and Severus sat up straighter. "I don't wish to answer anymore questions right now. May I go?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, you may go. I will take you to your apartment."

Hermione walked out of the room with Severus close behind her. They walked down several dimly lit hallways until they finally reached a wooden door with the number "sixty-six."

"This is your apartment. I expect to see you in my office tomorrow morning at eight A.M. Good evening." Hermione turned and hurried back the way she had come.

Severus entered his room and once the door was closed and locked he smiled to himself.

_That went rather well,_ he thought. _She knew about my mastering of Occlumency and Legilimency__ but I guess she forgot that I have mastered my own mind and can lie through Veritaserum. Silly girl. She should have listened closer in my class._ _I'm still surprised though that the Order's leader is this bushy haired Mudblood. Though I suppose I shouldn't be as she was part of the golden trio__ and is now the only one left of that horrid group. The Dark Lord will be pleased to know their leader is weak and easy to manipulate. It shouldn't be too hard to kill her._

Severus looked around his apartment. It was very basic but would suit his needs. First though he would redecorate a bit.

Severus took out his wand and turned the walls, floors and ceiling black. He turned the basic wall candles into silver candelabra's with green candles. He transfigured his plain off-white couch into black leather with green pillows and did the same to the armchair. His bathroom was redone in forest green and silver. His bedroom was black, green and silver.

When his work was complete, Severus stepped back and smiled. He was pleased.

A/N: That's it for now. Let me know what you thought by reading and reviewing! I'll get the third chapter out ASAP!

Special Thanks to my Beta Reader: Danielle


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